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Geological history

10,000 years ago, the Itasca landscape was sculpted by retreating glaciers, which deposited a large mound of rocks and sediment (the Itasca Moraine) across the region.

The Itasca Moraine and other glacial features formed the Lake Itasca drainage basin and channeled the Mississippi River north to Bemidji, then east and then south toward the Twin Cities.

Mixed soils called glacial till cover the landscape to an average depth of about 680 feet.

There are many springs in the Itasca region because of its glacial geology. Approximately 50 percent of the water flowing into Lake Itasca and the Mississippi River comes from springs.

Itasca’s water tastes like iron because a glacier that crossed the area first passed through the Iron Range, which is northeast of the park.

Itasca is notable for its bogs—wetlands that preserve plant material as peat. Bogs support a variety of rare flora, including fungi, mosses, lichens and insectivorous plants such as pitcher and sundews.